12th September, 2013
By John Tosin Ajiboye
Since Nigeria returned to democracy rule in 1999, a lot of things have been going wrong, but because our democracy is still fragile and young we have been keeping quiet on some issues thinking we are letting the sleeping dog lie without knowing that we are only postponing the evil day. That is why some of us have been calling for National Sovereign Conference so that Nigerians can discuss Nigeria, but it is a pity that some politicians are opposing it for their selfish interest.
However, one of the things that have been going wrong in our infant democracy is the issue of the jumbo pay that some political office holders are earning per month/week while the majority of Nigerian masses are wallowing in abject poverty.
It will be recalled that it was former President Olusegun Obasanjo that approved the jumbo pay for the political office holders from councillors to the President in his first tenure thinking that politicians will not be corrupt if they are well paid, and since then an ordinary councillor with little or no education has been earning higher salary than a university professor. Ironically, instead of these politicians to be serious with the business of governance in their various level of leadership to justify the fat salary they are earning, some of them are like Oliver Twist; always asking for more.
When Mrs, Oby Ezekwesili claimed that Nigerian lawmakers have received over one trillion naira since 1999 till date by quoting some figures from our past and present budgets, some of us that are public affairs analysts were not surprised even when an international organization had once conducted a research and found out that Nigerian lawmakers are the highest paid in the world.
It was reported that it costs tax payers N290 million yearly to maintain each member of our National Assembly. Using a simple arithmetic, if N290 million is divided by 12 calendar months, it means a monthly earning of a Senator which is approximately N24 million is more than a yearly income of a Medical Doctor; it is more than the salary of 42 Army generals, or 48 Professors or 70 Commissioners of Police or more than twice the pay of American President or nine times the pay of American Congress men. It is highly incredible!
Though, some Nigerian lawmakers will claim that “these monies” they are earning include their constituency allowance, the question is: what has really changed from all these constituencies they are claiming to be representing? For instance, some of these lawmakers only visit their constituencies once in a blue moon (probably during a festive period or electioneering campaign). They are all living large in their big mansions and big offices in Abuja at the expense of the people they are claiming to be representing.
In view of all these, to save our economy from collapsing and to prevent using 70% of our budget on re-current expenditure we must borrow a leaf from our neighbouring West African country- Senegal, by abolishing the Senate.
It will be recalled that last year, Senegalese members of parliament voted to abolish the Senate as part to moves to help victims of last year’s deadly floods.
President Marky Sall (who emerged the President of Senegal after the former President Abdoulaye Wade, failed to get third term in office like our former President Olusegun Obasanjo who also failed in his bid), said the money reserved for the upper house which is about $15 million will also go to towards preventing further flooding.
If Senegal can take that giant and bold step that helped them to save such a huge amount of money, Nigeria, the acclaimed giant of Africa, must not shy away from taking the right step to abolish the Senate and leave the lower chamber that have more members who are closer to their constituencies and more effective unlike the upper chamber which has become the abode of the former governors. While I don’t have anything personal against our Senators, I am only suggesting this in the interest of my dear country.
With the way we are playing our politics in this part of the world, the former governors have now found the Senate as the best place for them to retire. With the number of ex-governors we are now having in the Senate, I foresee an upper chamber full of corrupt ex-governors by 2019 and beyond. With the kind of salary they are earning coupled with the ones they have earned as former governors, it is obvious that they will be getting richer while the masses are getting poorer.
Therefore, if we can abolish the Senate as it was done in Senegal, Nigeria should also reduce the salaries and allowances of members of the House of Representatives and all the political office holders from councillors to the post of Mr. President by at least 50% so that we can make political office less attractive and more effective.
This may not be easy at the initial stage but it is achievable if we are serious about it. In Senegal, it was not also easy at the initial stage because the 100 Senators fought to be retained, but they lost the vote to be retained in the joint session of the parliament. The rumour mongers and political jobbers in Senegal also tried to stop the move by claiming that the aim is to weaken the opposition as most of the Senators were supporters of the ex-President, but at the end of the day the wish of the majority of the Senegalese prevailed and they were able to save millions of dollars to prevent further flooding in Dakar, their country’s capital and also improve their economy.
Nigeria should also expect the 109 Senators to oppose the move to abolish the Senate for their selfish interest, but I believe that the wish of more than 150 million Nigerians must prevail that of the 109 Senators that were elected by the same Nigerians because “sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this constitution derives all its power and authority”. (Section 14(2a) of 1999 Constitution as Amended).
Succinctly put, it is better we abolish the Senate because the bi-cameral legislature we are practicing is too expensive and the work of the two chambers is mere duplication of functions.
Nigeria must therefore learn from Senegal so that we will not end up like Greece where the government is borrowing from European Union (EU) before salaries and pensions can be paid.
•Ajiboye, a public affairs analyst wrote from Lagos. E-mail: [email protected]